Palantir CEO Alex Karp says college degrees don't matter: ‘We are asking people to…'
has sparked conversation with his remarks at the company's recent earnings call. Karp said that college degrees, even from top universities, do not matter at Palantir.
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He explained that once someone joins the company, their past educational background does not remain important. 'If you did not go to school, or you went to a school that's not that great, or you went to Harvard or Princeton or Yale, once you come to Palantir, you're a Palantirian, no one cares about the other stuff,' CEO
Alex Karp
said.
'We are making a new credential independent of class and background at Palantir,' he stated.
Speaking during the earnings call, Karp said that Palantir expects its employees to work in a very different environment than what they are used to. He said 'We're asking people to work in an environment, when they come in here, that is very different than anything they've ever worked on'. "Most of them come from university, where they've just been engaged in platitudes," Karp added.
Palantir CEO: People without college degrees create a lot of value
He also said that people without a college degree are often adding more value to Palantir's work than those with degrees.
'People with less than a college education are creating a lot of value — and sometimes more value than people with a college education — using our product,' Karp added.
While Palantir does not focus on educational qualifications, Karp believes that working at Palantir itself is a powerful credential for a career in technology. 'This is by far the best credential in tech,' he said. 'If you come to Palantir, your career is set.'
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Karp's comments reflect the company's focus on skills and work performance rather than academic degrees. Palantir posted over $1 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time. The company's revenue grew 48% during the second quarter. In an interview with CNBC's
Morgan Brennan
, Alex Karp said 'We're planning to grow our revenue … while decreasing our number of people. This is a crazy, efficient revolution. The goal is to get 10x revenue and have 3,600 people.
We have now 4,100.'
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